B.English Literature Guide

A Guide for the students of degrees in English Literature/Language.
The contents are a compilation of lecture notes taken while studying as a student at the Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rwp, Pakistan.
Note: The contents of the blog are meant as a guide for those studying relative material, therefore it is advised against copying, quoting or referring to the blog in official reports, documents and assignments. Plagiarism is a serious crime in the academic world.
(Moneeza Rafiq)

Thursday, 2 April 2015

Published in
1847, Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre paints
a picture of the Victorian society and the trends of that time. Brontë
criticizes the various practices of her society through the characters in this
novel.

Tyson
(2006) writes: “ForsomeMarxists,realismisthebestformforMarxistpurposesbecauseit clearly and accurately represents the real world, with all its
socioeconomic inequities and ideological contradictions, and encourages readers
to see the unhappy truths about material/historical reality” (p. 66). Thus, Jane Eyre, which portrays the Victorian
upper class, attempts to dismantle the capitalist, religious and sexist or
patriarchal ideologies prevalent in that time period.

Analysis of Jane
Eyre

The novel revolves around a
female protagonist named Jane Eyre who is an orphan living in mother’s brother,
Mr. Reed’s home. The deceased Mr. Reed made his wife promise to take care of
Jane. From the very start, there is a clear hierarchy of the upper and lower
class. Where Mrs. Reed and her three children, John Reed, Georgiana and Eliza
belong to the rich, upper class, Jane Eyre, being an orphan and dependant, belongs
to the lower class. Mrs. Reed’s cold behavior towards Jane leads her to believe
that “[…] she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for
contented, happy, little children.” (Brontë, 1847, p. 7). It is this hierarchy
of socioeconomic standards that determines how the Reed family behaves towards
Jane and this idea seeps through the generations, thus establishing itself as a
cultural norm of the society. John Reed orders Jane to address him as ‘Master
Reed’, and in accordance with the classist ideology that his family and society
has imparted in him, tells her

Youhavenobusinesstotakeourbooks;youareadependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you
ought to beg, and not to live here with gentlemen’s children like us, and eat
the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mama’s expense. Now, I’ll teach
you to rummage my bookshelves: for they ARE mine; all the house belongs to me,
or will do in a few years. Go and stand by the door, out of the way of the
mirror and the windows (Brontë , 1847, p. 11-12).

Being a
rebellious protagonist, Jane calls him a tyrant and a slave-driver like the
Roman emperors of the past. It is clear that Mrs. Reed’s children are aware of
the class difference and even the servants of the household attempt to teach
Jane this hierarchy of haves and have-nots.

And
you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master
Reed, because Missis kindly allows you to be brought up with them. They will
have a great deal of money, and you will have none: it is your place to be humble,
and to try to make yourself agreeable to them (p. 15-16).

The housemaids
tell Jane that if she does not act humble with the Reeds, God will punish her. Clearly,
everyone in the Reed household except for Jane has fully indulged in the
ideology that those who are rich may do as they please, while the poor need to
be taught severely of their limitations and boundaries. Thus, Jane wonders “Why
was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, for ever condemned?”
(p. 18). Her lack of money and status earns her everyone’s cruelty. Although
Jane rebels against this kind of treatment on basis of her poverty, since she
is a child, the effects of the capitalist ideology rub off on her as well. “I
could not see how poor people had the means of being kind” (p. 33).

Jane
is made to believe that since she is an orphan, she is a useless thing who is incapable
of benefiting anyone. The nurse, Bessie’s song further highlights the idea that
the poor and destitute have no one to turn to but God and Heaven. “Men are
hard-hearted, and kind angels only/ Watch o’er the steps of a poor orphan
child” (p. 29). This is a religious interpellation through which the
proletariat class is injected with the ideology that they must rely on the help
of the divine and it keeps them from rising against the cruelties of the
bourgeois class.

The
discrimination between the treatment of upper and lower class by the characters
of the novel is displayed when Jane arrives at Thornfield to work as a
governess for Mr. Rochester. Unaware of the fact that Mrs. Fairfax is not her
employer, Jane imagines the old lady to be “a model of elderly English
respectability” (p. 134-135), however, her arrival at the Rochester mansion reveals
that Mrs. Fairfax is in fact, the housekeeper and manager. This shows that even
in Jane’s mind, being a member of the Victorian upper class is synonymous to
elegance and respect. Even Mrs. Fairfax fully buys into the class division, and
believes herself to be a station above the other servants of the Rochester
household. Mrs. Fairfax prides herself on being distantly related to the
Rochesters.

Leah
is a nice girl to be sure, and John and his wife are very decent people;butthenyouseethey are only servants, and one can’t converse with them ontermsof equality: one must keep them at due distance, for fear of losing
one’s authority (p. 147-148).

The way she sees
Edward Rochester, the master of the house, is also determined by his status:
“Mr. Rochester was Mr. Rochester in her eyes; a gentleman, a landed
proprietor—nothing more” (p. 160).

The
capitalist division of class is more clearly defined when Brontë attacks the
upper class lords and ladies for having inadequate moral standards. Brontë
criticizes the ideology that being rich is synonymous to being a better human
being and deserving of respect. She shows the ugliness of the upper class,
their brutish behavior and establishes that good manners have nothing to do
with being rich. Brontë evaluates her characters based on their actions and
personality, not on their class or social status. In this way, the novel can be
called a ‘resistant literature’ which challenges the repressive ideologies
present in the society and refuses to adhere to them. When some of the upper
class, aristocracy arrives at Thornfield, Brontë shows their hollow
personalities through the eyes of Jane. Ms. Blanche Ingram, the epitome of an
aristocratic lady, is shown to be a selfish, rude and proud girl. Jane notices
that “there was an expression of almost insupportable haughtiness in her
bearing and countenance” (p. 261). She had the same pride in her as her mother
and she was remarkably self-conscious.

Shewasveryshowy,butshewas notgenuine:shehadafineperson,manybrilliantattainments; but her mind was poor, her heart
barren by nature: nothing bloomed spontaneously on that soil; no unforced
natural fruit delighted by its freshness. She was not good; shewasnotoriginal:sheusedtorepeatsoundingphrasesfrombooks:sheneveroffered,nor had,anopinionof her own… (Brontë , 1847, p. 282).

Thus, Jane looks
at the personality and behavior of a person to judge their character.

The
ideology that those who are rich are morally correct while the poor are
illiterate and untrustworthy is upheld by all the lords and ladies that stay as
guests at Thornfield. Mr. Ingram, while talking about Jane Eyre, remarks: “I
noticed her; I am a judge of physiognomy, and in hers I see all the faults of
her class.” (p. 268). Her daughter Blanche shows an aversion towards Jane and
remarks that she looks stupid to be allowed to play games with them. The idea
of physical ugliness is associated with the poor while beauty is linked with
the bourgeoisie. The discrimination on basis of outer appearance stems from the
historical/material conditions of the society. Blanche further says that there
are a thousand reasons why governesses and tutors of a well-regulated house
should not be allowed to have a relationship. She says that their “mutual
alliance” (p. 270), reliance and confidence will result in insolence which will
be followed by mutiny and a general blow-up. Thus, the upper class fears
rebellion of the proletariat class and tries to inject them with ideologies
which will prevent such a rebellion.

Brontë’s biggest criticism is made on the capitalist ideology that rich
men should only marry rich women, and marriages should be arranged for the sake
of preserving or increasing one’s estate (capital). Most conflicts in Jane Eyre arise due to a steadfast
belief and nurturing of this ideology. Mr. Edward Rochester is a rich bachelor,
who, although not handsome, is deemed a worthy match for Blanche Ingram due to
his status. As Jane observes: “I suppose his acquirements and abilities, perhaps
his wealth and good blood, make amends for any little fault of look” (p. 240).

Once
Jane realizes that she has fallen in love with her employer and master, Mr.
Rochester, she attempts to admonish herself and keep in mind that she is not of
his station to think of falling in love with him. While addressing herself, she
calls herself a dependent and a novice, and says that “It does good to no woman
to be flattered by her superior, who cannot possibly intend to marry her” (p.
244). In order to keep in mind the class difference between herself and
Blanche, she draws a portrait of herself, labeling it as “Portrait of a
Governess, disconnected, poor, and plain” and gives the title “Blanche, an
accomplished lady of rank” (p. 245) to the portrait of Blanche.

The
belief that rank and wealth sever her and Mr. Rochester widely is what prevents
her from believing that she is worthy of marrying him. “Mr. Rochester might
probably win that noble lady’s love, if he chose to strive for it; is it likely
he would waste a serious thought on this indigent and insignificant plebeian?”
(p. 245).

Keeping
to her own caste and order is something that Jane has observed in her society
and therefore, she forces herself to adhere to this ideology. She realizes that
due to the concerns of family, rank, connections and political reasons, Mr.
Rochester may want to marry Blanche, however, she is not qualified to win his
love because she has a rotten personality.

I
had thought him a man unlikely to be influenced by motives so commonplace in
his choice of a wife; but the longer I considered the position, education,
&c., of the parties, the less I felt justified in judging and blaming either
him or Miss Ingram for acting in conformity to ideas and principles instilled
into them, doubtless, from their childhood. All their class held these
principles: I supposed, then, they had reasons for holding them such as I could
not fathom. (p. 285).

The idea of
marrying within your own class is what causes Jane’s mother to develop a
discord among her family. Jane learns that her mother was of a respectable
family and when she chose to marry a poor clergyman, her friends disapproved of
the match. “[…] my grandfather Reed was so irritated at her disobedience, he cut
her off without a shilling; that after my mother and father had been married a
year” (p. 35).

However,
both Jane and Mr. Rochester refuse to bow down to this ideology. Edward
Rochester is fully aware of the fact that Blanche may not be impressed by his
personality, but his purse, and that she considers his estate eligible for
marriage.“I caused a rumour to reach
her that my fortune was not a third of what was supposed, and after that I
presented myself to see the result; it was coldness both from her and her
mother” (p. 388). More than a decade ago, Edward had been deceived into
marrying a raving mad woman due to the greed of his father. His father did not
want to divide his property among his two sons and diminish it, therefore, he
planned to marry Edward into riches, and this brought nothing but disaster and
pain to Edward. He then attempts to find his ideal woman who has an agreeable personality;
however, the aristocratic class fails him terribly.

Provided with plenty of money and the passport
of an old name, I could choose my own society: no circles were closed against
me. I sought my ideal of a woman amongst English ladies, French countesses,
Italian signoras, and German grafinnen. I could not find her (p. 474).

In this way,
Brontë exposes the ugly underbelly of an aristocratic society, maintaining that
wealth and status do not guarantee moral qualities such as honesty and
sincerity in a relationship.

In
the end Mr. Rochester chooses to marry Jane because he has fallen in love with
her, and refuses to conform to the society’s ideology about marrying in a rich
family. Jane too, denounces her interest in Mr. Rochester’s property, thereby
breaking away from the long-held traditions of her times molded by capitalism. “What
do I want with half your estate? Do you think I am a Jew-usurer, seeking good
investment in land? I would much rather have all your confidence. You will not
exclude me from your confidence if you admit me to your heart?” (p. 398-399).

Brontë
also attacks the religious ideologies that prevail in the Victorian society. The
ideology that you must be good and kind to even those who wish to do you harm
is what Brontë criticizes. The kind of religious ideologies promoted to keep
the poor from rebelling against the rich, to keep maintaining the current class
structure are displayed in Jane Eyre.
The masses are being conditioned by the customs of the society, those of the
upper class. The character of Mr. Brocklehurst, a clergyman who owns the Lowood
School of charity for orphan girls is used by Brontë to mock the idea that
religious institutions are fair and just.

Mr.
Brocklehurst upholds the concept that the orphan girls of the Lowood Institute
should be taught self-denial and simplicity, and punished severely when they do
not follow instructions. His ideals are exaggerated to a ridiculous degree,
demonstrated when he demands a Lowood student’s hair be cut off because it
curls naturally and looks rather lavish. Brontë contrasts this by presenting
Brocklehurt’s own family which does not follow his own grossly exaggerated
religious doctrines.

Mr.
Brocklehurst was here interrupted: three other visitors, ladies, now entered
the room. They ought to have come a little sooner to have heard his lecture on
dress, for they were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two
younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats,
then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this
graceful headdress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the
elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she
wore a false front of French curls (p. 97).

In the name of
religion, Mr. Brocklehurst attempted to keep the poor and orphan content in
their deplorable condition, and as a result he managed to save money and
exercise his authority on the basis of his superior station. He served them
rotten, rancid food and justified his actions through religion: “Oh, madam,
when you put bread and cheese, instead of burnt porridge, into these children’s
mouths, you may indeed feed their vile bodies, but you little think how you
starve their immortal souls!” (p. 94-95).

Jane
voices her rebellion against the kind of morals and religious doctrines which
are being taught at Lowood.

If
people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the
wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid,
and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are
struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we
should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again (p.
85-86).

She believes
that she must resist those who punish her unjustly. However, her friend Helen
Burns at Lowood replies to Jane’s protest by saying that only Heathens believe
in such things, Christians denounce violence. Through Jane, the readers are
shown how Christian values and ideologies being fed to the lower class society
are not in their favor, rather they are harmful and attempt to shackle the
masses, not free them.

When
Jane runs away from Thornfield and arrives at a rural setting, she meets her
cousin St. John Rivers, who is steadfast in his goal of becoming a missionary
and serving to convert people in India to Christianity. He believes that his
greatest work will be to toil in the Indian soil for sake of Christ and be
rewarded with a mansion in heaven. The ideology that St. John is adopting will
lead him into a miserable life away from his homeland, where he will struggle
to survive in poverty, believing that he will be admitted to heaven when he
dies. However, Jane, by refusing to join him in such a life, presents a
different perspective to the ideology and reveals its faults.

It
is—that he asks me to be his wife, and has no more of a husband’s heart for me
than that frowning giant of a rock, down which the stream is foaming in yonder
gorge. He prizes me as a soldier would a good weapon; and that is all. [...]
Can I receive from him the bridal ring, endure all the forms of love (which I
doubt not he would scrupulously observe) and know that the spirit was quite
absent? CanIbeartheconsciousnessthateveryendearmenthe bestowsisasacrificemadeonprinciple?No:such a martyrdom would be
monstrous. I will never undergo it. (p. 617).

Jane tells him
that she shall not be able to survive in the harsh climate of India and that
God did not give her a life to throw it away and follow St. John’s orders as he
pleases, she calls such an act a suicide and rejects it. Thus, Brontë not only
criticizes the religious ideologies that were dominant in the Victorian times
but also points out how they are at fault and do not promise a good life which
is the right of every human being. While the poor clergymen and missionaries of
rural areas wander all over the world in destitution spreading religion, the
rich steal and deceive to become richer, and the class system of the society is
maintained.

Brontë
also criticizes the sexism in the patriarchal society. Through Jane’s words,
Brontë attempts to reject the sexist ideology that women have certain assigned
roles in the society that make them more feminine and they should stick to
those roles. In the conversation between Bessie and Jane, Bessie calls Jane a
fine lady because she has now learnt how to play the piano, speak French and
work embroidery on the muslin and canvas (Brontë, 1847). Similarly, Blanche is
believed to be an accomplished lady because she is beautiful, she sings and
plays the piano. Blanche is an adherent of the patriarchal ideology and says
that loveliness and beauty are solely traits of a woman, and the gentlemen
should only possess strength and valour. They should shoot, hunt and fight, and
forget about everything else. Through the character of Jane Eyre, Charlotte
Brontë voices her opinion against this patriarchal ideology.

Women
are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they
need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as
their brothers do; […] and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged
fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making
puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.
It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or
learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex. (p. 167).

In conclusion, Jane Eyre does not promote the
capitalist, religious or patriarchal ideologies prevalent in that time but
presents them in a different light, through the eyes of a female protagonist,
and shows how these ideologies are unhealthy and attempt to mask the reality
from the masses. In the name of customs and tradition, the masses follow
certain ideologies which they believe to be correct in every aspect; however,
in reality they have flaws that are hidden from the eyes of the people. Jane Eyre draws out those flaws and
proves to be a critique of the capitalist Victorian society.

The aim of this
document is to analyze the short story “Love in an Election Year” written by
Tahira Naqvi, a Pakistani writer of English fiction, with the feminist
framework of literature. Feminist literary criticism attempts to analyze
literary texts with special focus on what kind of sexist or patriarchal
ideology is being portrayed or criticized. In the selected short story, there
is the central female character named Shabo, who is a fifteen year old and the
narrator of the story with the first person perspective. She tells the tale of
her twenty-one year old cousin named Baji Sughra in the backdrop of the
political situation of the country. The setting that the characters are
situated in is a traditional Pakistani familial setting of the 1960’s.

Baji
Sughra is a typical young female in a Pakistani family setup. She looks like “a
sultry actress in an Indian film, like a model in a magazine ad for Pond’s Cold
Cream” (Naqvi, 1997, p. 327). She has rosy cheeks, soft lips that are always
pulled up in a smile and is she considered very beautiful by Shabo. All the
patriarchal feminine qualities associated with a woman manifest in the
character of Baji Sughra. From her outer appearance, to her manner and
personality, she is what a Pakistani woman should be like according to the
patriarchal society. She is talkative and expresses herself more in the
presence of her female cousins, as Shabo recounts: “Within an hour of her
arrival from Multan we were chattering without pause like two myna birds” (p.
326). Being compared to twittering birds is another way of suggesting that the
two young girls are delicate, beautiful to look at and very feminine. The main
subject of the story is the fact that Baji Sughra has fallen in love with a
cousin named Javed. Thus, the outline of the perfect feminine heroine is
complete. She is young, beautiful and in love. It is not mentioned what kind of
education Baji Sughra has had or what activities she indulges in, other than daydreaming
about Javed, writing love letters to him and making plans to have secret dates
with him. She is constantly smiling and happy ever since the love affair began,
and this gives her the air of a delicate, chirping songbird like the myna she
is likened to. Her ultimate dream is to be married to Javed and live happily
ever after like a fairytale princess; she tells Shabo “We’ll be married when
Javed gets his degree. […] In two years” (p. 328). Therefore, she is seen in
the patriarchal gender role that the society has outlined for her and fits the
profile of a feminine girl completely.

Javed,
the young man Baji Sughra hopes to marry, is defined first and foremost with
the kind of education is having and how old he is. “If I had done my
calculations correctly, he was three years older than she was, twenty-three. In
his second year at the Engineering University in Lahore, he was one of our
cleverest cousins, the one who showed the most promise, the elders had been
heard to proclaim” (p. 328). The narrator Shabo adds to this profile a
description of Javed’s looks. He is good-looking, fair-skinned, tall, and has a
“thick, black moustache” which is the very defining feature of his masculinity.
Shabo compares the couple to the couples seen in films during that time i.e.
Nargis and Raj Kapoor, Madhubala and Dilip Kumar. Therefore, Javed is the
handsome prince who has been casted in the role of the hero likened to one in
any Pakistani romantic film, meant to sweep the girl off her feet and live
happily ever after. He is in his typical masculine gender role, which is laid
out for him by the patriarchal Pakistani society. Shabo immediately imagines
Baji Sughra in the traditional Pakistani role of a “bashful bride […] weighted
down with heavy gold jewelry, swathed and veiled in lustrous red brocade and
garlands of roses and chumbeli” (p.
329). Baji Sughra is of marriageable age, and in accordance with the traditions
of the Pakistani patriarchal society, her only role is to be married so that
she may start her life as a wife and later as a mother. In those days it was
unimaginable for a woman to aspire for a career or higher education, and so the
story fails to mention academic achievements of any of the female characters;
in a patriarchal society such things are not important for a woman. Baji Sughra
is often shown tearful especially in matters regarding her love, and she is
even compared to a wounded animal when requesting Shabo to keep her secret. This
makes her seem defenseless, dependent and shy, the qualities normally
associated with a woman. Adjectives like coy, blushing and bashful are used to
describe Baji Sughra throughout the story.

The
one thing that deviates from the usual profile of a traditional Pakistani girl
is the fact that Baji Sughra is in love and having a clandestine affair with
her beloved. This would be considered a rebellious behavior, and as the story
progresses, we see that Baji Sughra makes vocal attempts to rebel against the
decisions of her parents regarding marriage, but fails to make a change. Shabo
believes Baji Sughra is bold and is awed by her courage; she is also impressed
by Baji Sughra’s intelligence and believes that she is a smart girl. Sughra has
her own opinions regarding the political situation in the country, and she
displays knowledge whenever she speaks on the matter. However this
characteristic of hers is not brought to the front and her character is
overtaken by the events of her love life. Perhaps this is because patriarchy
does not allow her to be very vocal about matters such as politics and current
affairs, which should be left to the elders and male members of the house.

Shabo’s
parents are seen in the traditional patriarchal roles as well. Shabo’s father,
whom she calls ‘Abba’, comes back from work and engages in the physical
activity of ‘getting his hands dirty’ while stringing up the national flags and
streamers with the children. On the other hand, Shabo’s mother does not help
out but remains concerned about the mess being made, and the possibility that
the children might come to supper without washing their hands properly. Being a
woman and a mother, she is worrying about little things, and concerned about
the health and cleanliness of the children. This is in accordance with the
patriarchal notion that women are nurturing, caring and the duties of childcare
solely rest on them. The activity of cooking is also associated with females,
and so it is ‘Aunty A’ who makes the thick, granular carrot halwa. The male characters are seen
smoking cigarettes, such as Javed and Cousin Hashim or using hukkah like Dadajan (grandfather). These
are masculine activities which are solely reserved for men, and banned for
women. The Philips radio used to listen to the election results is ‘Dadajan’s
radio’, thus hinting towards the fact that all property is owned by men. When
the politician that Shabo’s whole family supports i.e. Fatima Jinnah loses
against Ayub Khan, the men show aggressiveness while the females remain rather
passive and only express themselves through words, if at all. It is Dadajan who
grunts and rummages through things, curses and calls names while Dadima simply
‘mutters’ her displeasure. Although Cousin Hashim is a no-good failure who gets
scolded for having achieved nothing in his academic life, he still retains his
masculinity by showing rage and desire for physical aggression. “Cousin Hashim
was restrained with great difficulty by Allah Rakha as he threatened to go out
and cuff the man who was attempting to break into two a large, cardboard
lantern that had adorned the entrance of the little tea shop right next to our
front door” (p. 336). Dadajan, the grandfather, is established as the authority
of the house when Shabo confesses that no one can go against the wishes of
Dadajan. He is the male owner of the house, and his command is considered the
last word. Even Javed shows anger and aggression when Baji Sughra is married
off to another man. This display of anger by all the male characters in the
story is proof that they too are caught in the web of patriarchal roles that
signify masculinity. Men are encouraged to be violent and display an aggressive
behavior which is labeled as a true sign of manhood. It is clear what the power
relationship between the males and females is. The males are dominant and the
ones who hold the power in the household, while the females are compliant and
submissive. All the characters in the story conform to the gender categories
defined by the patriarchal ideology and seem to be satisfied in them.

The
rebellion that Baji Sughra shows when her parents arrange her marriage to
someone other than Javed, is overshadowed by her grief and dejection. Shabo
notes: “She wore a sad look, and seeing her face so pale and her eyes wet with
unshed tears, I thought how beautiful she was when saddened” (p. 336). The
story never shows directly how Baji Sughra argued with her parents to let her
marry Javed, and so, the readers have no clue how vocal or aggressive Baji
Sughra had been in front of her parents and elders. When she tells her sad tale
to Shabo, she assumes the role of a traditional feminine heroine in the face of
an adversary. She throws herself on the bed and starts sobbing, later flinging
her head down on her knees and weeping violently. Her emotions become
melodramatic when she claims that she will kill herself if she is made to marry
someone other than Javed. She wails “Oh Shabo, my life is over, I’ll kill
myself, I’ll be a corpse instead of a bride, they’ll see” (p. 338). The image
of Baji Sughra as a patriarchal feminine girl is reinforced here. Her overly
emotional actions make her seem foolish and ridiculous, and she reveals to
Shabo that even her own parents thought she was being foolish. Shabo notes that
Baji Sughra’s rebellion would only remain meekly verbal and go no further; “If
we were in the movies Baji Sughra would have indeed killed herself by taking
poison which someone like me would have supplied to her, or she would have run
away at the last minute, just as the maulvi
sahib was getting ready in the other room to conduct the nikah. But this wasn’t the movies, alas”
(p. 338). The idea of a woman rebelling against her parents and the patriarchal
norms is only the stuff of movies and myths, not the reality. Patriarchal
ideology imposes submissiveness and passivity on women, and so Baji Sughra gives
up on her fight for her love and surrenders to her traditional gender role. She
becomes the “good girl” that everyone expects her to be, and agrees to the
marriage.

When
it comes to Baji Sughra’s marriage to the man her parents chose for her, Shabo
points out some of the Pakistani traits of a bride and gives a raw definition
of a good girl and bad girl as seen in the light of the male dominant societal
norms: “A sad bride is traditional, so that if anyone saw her in tears the only
conclusion drawn was that the poor girl was weeping at the thought of leaving
her parents’ home. In fact, if you showed too much excitement at your wedding,
you’d be accused of immodesty” (Naqvi, 1997, p. 339). Thus, a Pakistani bride
is restricted from showing too much joy or excitement and deemed ‘immodest’ or
in other words, a bad girl. On the other hand, the bride who keeps her head
bowed, remains mute and tearful is the good girl, because she is conforming to
her gender. Regarding the bride’s assent at the time of nikah, Shabo says: “You’re not supposed to exceed the bounds of
modesty and respond enthusiastically with a ‘yes’ right away. All brides must
wait until the query is repeated for the third and last time and then, after a
reasonable pause, come out with a demure ‘Hmm’ ” (p. 341). It is clear that
submissiveness is a valuable quality in a woman as seen through the patriarchal
lens that all characters in the story wear. While Shabo expected Baji Sughra to
refuse to the marriage in front of the maulvi,
or take some other bold action like tell her new husband the truth or refuse to
show affection towards him, in reality, Sughra assumes the role of a submissive
bride completely and gives her passive assent. She later tells Shabo that her
husband is a wonderful man, and she is happy with him. Purged of her rebellious
side, she has become exactly what the male dominant society wants her to be. The
story seems to be reinforcing the patriarchal ideals of how a woman or a man
should behave by showing that Sughra is now happy with her husband, because she
chose to be the ‘good girl’ that everyone expected.

The
story gives the impression that if a woman listens to her elders and mutes her
own voice, she will get a happy ending. The patriarchal ideology believes that
women are born to be passive, frail, modest, emotional and nurturing. Clearly
Baji Sughra is a classic example of a patriarchal woman. She has been oppressed
and restrained by her society, and she herself has given a willing consent to
it. This patriarchal programming is apparent in all the characters of the
story, including the narrator Shabo. Although Shabo questions the consent of
Baji Sughra to the marriage and expresses displeasure at the lack of her
rebellion, she is called a baby. Being a teenager, Shabo’s programming is not
yet complete, but in time, she too will become attuned to the patriarchal norms
and that is when she will be considered ‘mature’. The sisterhood between Shabo
and Baji Sughra here is worth noting. Bescause Shabo is designated as Baji
Sughra’s friend and confidant; she feels it is her duty to encourage Baji
Sughra in her desire to marry Javed. She helps the latter arrange a secret
tryst with Javed in the story, and tries to help the lovers in any way she can.
Despite being the younger of the two, Shabo does not give up easily on the idea
that Baji Sughra should give up her resistance and her right to marry the
person she likes. Although Shabo does not give voice to her opinion, secretly
she believes Baji Sughra should have fought harder and taken a stand in any way
she could have. This shows that women desire a change in their hearts but do
not have the courage or power yet to take a concrete action against the
oppressive patriarchal norms. Since Baji Sughra is now happily married and is
satisfied with her new husband, the readers will not question the patriarchal
oppression on her but consent to it.

It
is also important to note the political background that the story is set in.
The story shifts between the 1988 elections of Benzair Bhutto, and the 1964
elections of Fatima Jinnah versus Ayub Khan. For a woman to run for the
presidential seat is something unusual because in the patriarchal society women
are not encouraged to aim for professions largely occupied by males. Baji
Sughra’s awe and admiration at Fatima Jinnah’s participation in the elections
is noteworthy: “A woman president for Pakistan. Can you believe it Shabo? And
she’s running against a general too. But she’s so like her brother Jinnah, how
can anyone not vote for her! She’ll win.” (p. 328). Shabo’s entire family
supports Fatima Jinnah, which has more to do with the fact that she is Muhammad
Ali Jinnah’s sister, than with her being a powerful, eligible politician. This
highlights the fact that Fatima Jinnah is not acknowledged for her own
capabilities and intelligence, but her importance is tied to her brother’s
reputation. Once again the patriarchal ideology seems to be at work; a woman
has a meaning only in relation to a man. When Fatima Jinnah loses the election,
Shabo recounts that voting was rigged in a clever way so that it could not be
proved. Shabo comments on Fatima Jinnah’s looks after the defeat that “she
looked sadder than any tragic heroine in any movie I had ever seen” (p. 335). It
is clear that the male dominant society during the 1960’s was not prepared to
have a woman as their leader.

On
that note, more than two decades later, in 1988, the Pakistani society still
seems skeptical of allowing a woman to take on such a powerful seat which has
always been reserved for the males. “Benazir Bhutto has a notion she will win.
The mullahs, their hands raised
ominously, their eyes glittering passionately, are up in arms because, as they
see it, a woman cannot, and if they can help it, will not, hold executive
office” (p. 326), as Shabo notes in the start of the story. Religious
influences in promoting patriarchal ideals are obvious, because according to
the religious scholars a woman’s place is to stay inside her home. The story
clearly reflects Pakistani society’s gender issues in accepting a woman in a
strong masculine role such as a president or prime minister. Shabo described
Benazir Bhutto as having piercing eyes and determined looks. It would not be
wrong to call Shabo a feminist, because she believes a woman should be able to
aspire for something more in her life, and supports Benazir Bhutto. She defends
Bhutto when Baji Sughra, who is now successfully conditioned by the patriarchal
ideology, claims that Bhutto will never win because she’s too much in love with
her husband, she likes to take risks and is always pregnant; “What can she do
if she’s pregnant?” Baji Sughra retorts. At the end of the story, Baji Sughra’s
last dialogue sums up the issue at the very heart of patriarchal ideology: “Well
Shabo, she wants too much. Just think, you can either be a good wife and mother
or a good leader. And she wants to be all three. Now, tell me Shabo, is that
possible? How is that possible?” (p. 346). A woman will still be bound in her
patriarchal gender role of child-rearing and household duties even if she
establishes her career. Benazir Bhutto is looked down upon by Baji Sughra
because she knows juggling motherhood and a career is impossible in this
society, and so Bhutto is bound to fail. While Shabo is trying to break free
from the patriarchal ideology prevalent in the Pakistani society by raising
questions in her mind and even giving voice to them at the end of the story,
Baji Sughra is strikingly opposite. Sughra has become a patriarchal woman, who has internalized the norms and values of the
patriarchy prevalent in Pakistan.

In
conclusion, “Love in an Election Year” carries the traditional definitions of
masculinity and femininity. The characters in the story behave according to
their own gender, save, perhaps Shabo whose opinions and perspectives mature as
she grows older and by the end of the story she is the only one who seems to have
the courage to articulate her opinion. In the form of Shabo, the selected short
story seems to be questioning the traditional view of gender but its reinforcement
and acceptance of these gender roles through the other characters overpowers
the former. Thus, it cannot be said that the story invites the readers to
criticize or reject the patriarchal ideology ruling Pakistani society even
today. Baji Sughra’s tale is a sad one, but her own acceptance of her fate and
the resultant satisfaction from it prevents the readers from opening their eyes
to the oppression of women.

References

Naqvi,
T. (1997). Love in an Election Year. M, Shamsie (Ed.), A Dragonfly in the Sun: An Anthology of Pakistani Writing in English (pp.
326-346). Karachi: Oxford University
Press.

Thursday, 13 February 2014

Comparison
of the treatment of the sea in Diving
into the Wreck
by Rich and The
Sea is History
by Walcott.

INTRODUCTION

Derek
Walcott
is a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. Besides having won the Nobel
Prize in Literature, he has won numerous literary awards over the
course of his career. Methodism and spirituality have played a
significant role from the beginning in Walcott's work. He commented,
"I have never separated the writing of poetry from prayer. I
have grown up believing it is a vocation, a religious vocation”.

Adrienne
Rich
was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was credited with
brining the oppression of women into the poetic discourse. Rich’s
work has explored issues of identity, sexuality and politics; her
formally ambitious poetics have reflected her continued search for
social justice, her role in the anti-war movement, and her radical
feminism. Utilizing speech cadences, enjambment and irregular line
and stanza lengths, Rich’s open forms have sought to include
ostensibly “non-poetic” language into poetry.

SYMBOLISM OF THE SEA IN
LITERATURE

Water
is a universal symbol of change and is often present at turning
points in a story. Since water is often a sign of life, many times
water represents life. Water can also be up into two categories:
fresh water and bad/polluted water. Fresh water can represent good
health, and bad water symbolizes bad health. Water can also mean
purity and cleansing. It also represents thirst,
which can be interpreted as a thirst for something specific, such as
knowledge or enlightenment.

The
ocean is
a sign of power and strength, dominating all other symbols of
water--due to its immensity. All life was ocean-born and life still
exists in the ocean; therefore the ocean represents life. Also, the
ocean represents mystery. The ocean is known for being unpredictable
and uncontrollable, hard to navigate in time of storm and sometimes
known for being beautifully calm. Sometimes, the ocean is referred to
as being a tear of God or the sorrow; a place where you leave your
bad memories and sadness. The ocean is also known to symbolize hope,
truth, and in some cases, mystery and magic. The ocean's salt can
also symbolize being well grounded, or stabilized.

The
sea is a wonderful and powerful image that often appears in dreams.
Water is linked with the feminine and in a dream may represent the
feminine aspect of one's personality. The sea figures predominantly
in many creation stories as the bearer of all life. It is stormy,
chaotic, and life-giving. Water often symbolizes the unconscious or
the soul. Look to see if it is calm or what might be lurking under
the surface.

The
ocean may contain what one perceives as danger, such as lurking
monsters, sharks or whales, storms, or tidal waves. These "dangers"
may represent powerful and unpredictable feelings, a repressed aspect
of one's personality, or an issue dwelling under the surface. The
seas figure predominantly in creation myths as the bearer of all
life.

The
poet Walt Whitman, uses the sea as a metaphor for immortality in a
cluster of nine poems which are part of his 1881 Leaves
of Grass.
In context he uses a ship as a metaphor for man’s passage through
life beginning with birth and ending with death. Henry Thoreau
used the sea as a metaphor for the enrichment of man’s mind and the
limitlessness of his abilities. Another significance in the use
of the sea as a metaphor for the voyage through personal growth, like
we saw with Whitman, is the insight that it provides the reader about
the writer.

COMPARISON OF THE TREATMENT OF
SEA IN RICH'S AND WALCOTT'S POEMS

The
poem entitled “The Sea is History”
connects Walcott’s present environment to its initial condition by
situating the Caribbean’s genesis in the middle passage, describing
the creation of the New World as imagined by European colonists, and
chronicling the islands’ fight for independence. The interrogative
beginning, “Where are your monuments, your battles, your martyrs? /
Where is your tribal memory?” immediately draws our attention to
the lack of
these things – items that typically compose a cultural history. The
answer, “Sirs, / in that grey vault. The sea. The sea / has locked
them up. The sea is History” introduces an element of forlornness,
especially with the word “sea” repeated four times.

Several
historians have felt the need to defend the sea from the accusation
that it is “history-less,” claiming that the best defense
comes from poet Derek Walcott, in his poem “The Sea is History”:
Maeve Tynan examines this view of the history-filled sea as “medium
for the passage operates as an interstitial site that both conjoins
and separates colonizer and colonized.” She sees the trope of
the voyage encapsulating “the uprooting effect of Imperialism”
particularly in the poetry of Derek Walcott. As she puts
it, “Walcott’s Odyssean travellers opt to voyage
through history, a dynamic quest into the future that repudiates the
past and grounds his poetics in the here and now.” Tom
Leskiw’s paper also addresses the topic of untold history, by
examining the mutualism between humans and sea creatures, and
the ways in which natural and human histories have intertwined.
Noting that seas have been a “barrier to travel since time
immemorial and crossing them has often entailed the crossing of a
frontier,” his essay examines how Polynesian mariners’ “intimacy
with the sea” gave them the ability to use “subtle clues for
navigation,” clues provided by not only the colour, taste and
patterns of the sea but by fish, plants and seabirds as well.

It
is important to note Walcott's
acknowledgement of the sea as an entity, an element in history.
Walcott asks of the peoples' "monuments, battles, and martyrs,
tribal memories", to which the response lies "in the sea".
But there is a profound biblical allusion to the historical
significance entailed. From chaos emerged light, like "the
lantern of a caravel, and that was Genesis". With these words,
the poet is referring to the many children that were birthed
overseas, amidst the struggle of sailing between the islands in
flight from oppression. Then as soon as they are born, the children
face "Exodus", "the packed cries, the shit, the
moaning", an exile from a peaceful life, from their own
homeland. Walcott is giving a perspective and an ethnic identity to
the Caribbean collective through the description of the sea as
personified by Biblical allusion.

As
he compares slavery to “Babylonian bondage” and describes the
deaths of men and women aboard slave ships, he explains that these
tragedies only caused the ocean to “turn blank pages / looking for
History”. These horrific events that are “locked
in the sea” are the antithesis of the great monuments and
triumphant battles described in the introduction to the poem. The
irony present in the references to biblical stories of creation and
redemption reminds us that the Caribbean’s history will never be
one of triumph or deliverance but instead one of anguish and
struggle.

Within
the declaration, “the sea is History,” also exists a dramatic pun
on the word, “history.” One could interpret this phrase as the
sea holding the answers to history, or “the sea is History” could
be interpreted colloquially as, “the
sea is gone.” The former meaning provides some hope in recovering
history, but the latter is completely despondent. It is clear that
Walcott intended this double meaning, for the search for history
spans the entirety of the poem and at one point a real feeling of
hopelessness occurs as he writes, “and that was Lamentations/ that
was just Lamentations,/ it was not history”.

The final stanza of “The Sea Is
History” Here, the mention of the “salt chuckle of rocks”
returns a sense of ease to the poem as a whole, and the final
line, “of History, really beginning,” also possesses a hopeful
tone. History begins at the end of the poem, yet the images here of
the sea are reminiscent of the lines, “The sea / has locked them
up. The sea is History.”

For Walcott, the sea is a
reference to the change that comes with the passage of time. The sea
is a symbol of those portions of the African history that are unknown
and hidden from the human eyes. The sea envelops in itself the events
and happenings of the African history that have become taboo and are
no longer discussed by people, but are rather repressed in the
'depths of the sea' of consciousness; “The sea/has locked them up.”

The “Genesis” or the beginning
of the crucial part of African history was when the colonizers
traveled by way of sea towards Africa and brought with them a tide of
change. The sea acted as a bridge to connect the colonizers with the
African indigenous people. The “Exodus” came when the
colonization resulted in “soldered” bones of the natives and
their “packed cries”. The sea, then, is as vast and deep as
history and contains in it the cruelties and horrors of the past. The
sea is the witness to the arriving colonizers and the shipping of the
natives to America and Europe for slavery. Walcott describes the
colonizers in the poem as “the men with eyes as heavy as anchors”
and describes that they were like the rabid jaws “of the tidal wave
swallowing Port Royal”. Throughout the poem Walcott uses nautical
terms to describe the incidents that have occurred throughout the
African history.

But where is your Renaissance?

Sir, it is locked in them sea
sands

out there past the reef's moiling
shelf

where the men-o'-war floated down;
(33-36)

The sea has locked many things in
its enormous belly. It not only contains the secrets, the horrors and
the tales of the natives, but also guards the wealth of rare jewels
and marine life. Walcott highlights the enormity and majesty of the
sea. The ocean is presented as magnanimous and of immeasurable depth.
The sea is the place where the history of the Caribbean people is
often located. The slaves and servants were brought to other lands by
the sea route, they died on the sea and the sea-bed became their
grave, the colonials traveled by sea as well. All these are an
important part of the history, and the sea by default becomes the
main chapter of the history and cannot be separated from it. The sea
has witnessed many things and is therefore a great vault of all that
has happened across it.

History
and the sea have a very intimate relationship as they both are always
moving and changing and are virtually uncontrollable. Walcott uses an
interesting combination of strong visual imagery and historical
references. He has used the flow of the water to describe the flow of
time. His personification of the sea effectively demonstrates it's
and history’s, power and control. The sea can “lock them up,”
it can cause drowning, sinking, struggles; But it can dry up too –
even the sea, despite its undeniable power, has its weaknesses.

“Diving
into the Wreck” is Adrienne Rich's most celebrated poem that is
often called as the epic of modern times. The poet in this poem gives
a description of the sea and her dive into the sea, the various
things observed and particular experiences underwent are all
beautifully narrated. The poem is adventurous and descriptive of the
experience of diving into the sea in order to search for a wreck. As
the seawater is deep and mysterious, so are the meanings of the poem.
The poem is representative of Rich's feminist ideals and the changing
conditions of America. Rich is the diver that wishes to observe the
damage done to the female race, and the wreck of their treasures.

Although
it is not named, the Atlantic Ocean is probably the sea that houses
the wreck that the speaker of the poem explores. The
sea represents uncovered female history. The
image of the sea is a metaphor of life as sea is full of wreckages;
the world too is full of ruins. One glance around will bring back
countless pictures of destruction. Diving
into the Wreck provides
the angle of perception about the wreck from both the male and the
female side. Deborah
Pope in finding the meaning of the wreck states that the wreck
represents the battered hulk of sexual definitions of the past, which
Rich, as an underwater explorer, must search for evidence of what can
be salvaged.

The
diver's act of diving into the sea is like undertaking a voyage into
a new territory. Rich's poetry continually testifies to her need to
work out possible modes of human existence verbally, to achieve
imaginatively what cannot yet be achieved in actual relationships.
The
poem chronicles one woman’s quest for discovery as she journeys
alone to seek the truth of “omitted” and “misrepresented”
ideas. Adrienne Rich enables the reader to understand the
journey that the speaker undertakes as one of not only
self-discovery, but also as a mission to understand the universality
of humanity.

The
body of water isn't always mentioned directly in the poem, but it's
definitely ever-present. The ocean is huge, deeply powerful, magical
and somewhat frightening. It swallowed the ship and it surrounds the
diver. It's about as wild and as natural as possible. Line 32 is
where the ocean is mentioned directly. The ocean hits the diver as a
surprise, as the diver cannot see as she moves down the ladder to
descend into the water. This surprise makes the ocean seem
frightening, as it harbours unknown, unseen entities.

And
there is no one

to
tell me when the ocean

will
begin. (31-33)

As
the poem progresses, the
diver is learning to move underwater, to get used to the feeling of
actually being "inside" the ocean. The ocean is completely
in control though, and the diver cannot fight it or use his or her
power. Rich calls the ocean as a 'deep element' in which the diver
has to learn to adapt: “you breathe differently down here.” The
speaker describes a log as being "water-eaten." It seems
like an ordinary thing to say, but it gives an image of the ocean as
a kind of animal. It gnaws and chews and slowly devours all the human
things that fall into it. It has a slow, inescapable power that makes
it a scary force in this poem.

The
poem narrates the speaker’s quest as she explores a sunken ship to
discover the cause of the disaster and to salvage whatever treasures
remain. The sea is a traditional literary symbol of the unconscious.
To dive is to probe beneath the surface for hidden meanings, to learn
about one’s submerged desires and emotions. In this poem, the diver
is exploring a wreck—a ship that has failed to
survive.

The
poem is an extended metaphor in which the dive comes to signify the
diver’s quest for knowledge and power. Her descent into the primal
depths of the sea of life, of consciousness, transforms her: She
becomes a creature of a different world. The "awkward mask"
and crippling flippers are inappropriate for the land-based world but
essential for the underwater journey. She apparently has become the
drowned vessel as well, the boat and its figurehead:

whose
drowned face sleeps with open eyes

whose
breasts still bear the stress

whose
silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies

obscurely
inside barrels. (80-83)

By delving
into the mystery, looking beneath the surface, the diver learns the
secret of her own submerged power. The diver is not only the boat and
its cargo, a figurehead, an observer, an explorer. She/he is also a
participant in the disaster: "we are the half-destroyed
instruments/ that once held to a course."

The
theme of descent and return is a traditional one in Western
literature and
this is employed by Adrienne Rich in a modern setting. Perhaps the
diver represents all humans, submerging into the depths of personal
histories to find out who they really are. In 1971, Rich wrote an
essay entitled "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision."
In the article, she wrote about an awakening of women’s
consciousness, their "drive to self-knowledge." She wrote,
"language has trapped as well as liberated us." She urged
women to reexamine their history, to learn "to see—and
therefore live—afresh."

If
the history books do not tell women’s stories, they must search the
past (dive into the ocean) and find the evidence so that they can
retell the old stories. The
journey to discover one’s identity is like a dive to discover a
shipwreck, dangerous, mysterious but fascinating. So many threats
await down the deep level of the sea, yet the charming adventure
raises the irresistible invitation into the unknown world where the
woman may find her hidden self. She is afraid, she is uncertain about
what lays ahead, therefore she prepares and arm herself, with
knowledge, with weapons, with the brave expectation of new, great
change she may go through. The wreck she is diving into is the
patriarchal society where she is living in, her community, her
family, her belief.

As
noted, Rich stated that this poem “is” an experience rather than
about an experience, is the idea of searching our memories, our past.
And that is a journey that can only be done alone, subjectively. So
using the symbolism of the dive, and the shipwreck, it appears that
she wants to go back and figure out what happened in her life (her
journey, or course) that left her damaged. To do this, she has
to dive deep in the water, which is not pretty but black and dark,
symbolizing that the journey is fearful. Rather than jump right into
the water as some divers do, she has to use the ladder to slowly
descend into the water, indicating hesitancy. The repetition of the
phrase "I go down" in the third stanza show that this is a
slow and gradual process. So as she retreats into her memories, she’s
not exactly sure at what point she’ll find clues or meaning. Also,
because the water creates buoyancy, she really has to hold onto it to
“go down”, so it’s not an easy task to go into the unknown (the
sea of memories).

“Diving
into the Wreck” contains Rich's fullest, most dramatic reference to
the sea. In this poem, the speaker gives up her old notions of power
because they don't seem to apply where the sea is the controlling
element. Attempts to gain power over the sea appear useless to Rich's
diver, who has to move differently in the sea and adjust. The sea
provides a valuable context for a developing consciousness. In one of
her poems, Rich uses the sea chiefly as a metaphor of change. The
ocean represents all that is vast and unknowable. In another poem,
she finds the sea lacking as an instructor about how to live one's
life. Ultimately, for Rich, the sea is its own entity, often violent
and mainly separate from human concerns. The setting of the ocean can
be seen as a symbolic metaphor for the real world and society as a
whole.

CONCLUSION

In
conclusion, the sea represents the unknown, the hidden and the secret
for both Walcott and Rich. The sea is powerful and cannot be
controlled by mere humans. It is deep and full of remnants of history
such as the traces of the colonizers crossing it to get to Africa, or
the painful past of the women of the world. Going into the sea
results in some sort of discovery, or unlocking of mysteries;
ultimately, the sea is a symbol of the past lives of humans.